


Mono-tony

by avienexjel



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Feels, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt, Hurt Tony, Hurt Tony Stark, Multi, Self-Harm, Suicide, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 04:43:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7999021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avienexjel/pseuds/avienexjel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chapters filled with short stories related to the chapter title.  Can get very dark and might cause triggers, so please avoid if so.  Check tags.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mono-tony

**heartwrenching**

  1. “What happened to you, Tony?” An expression of despair is carved into Steve’s face as he kneels, bloody and bruised, at Iron Man’s feet. Tony is out of the suit, dressed casually with a single pistol in his hand.  There are only three bullets left.



The Merchant of Death answers calmly as he lifts the gun barrel to the supersoldier’s head.  “I’m tying up some loose ends, you could say.”

Steve chokes out, “Why?  Why do this?  I apologized; I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you like this!”

Tony’s eyes are cold and unforgiving as he sets his jaw.  “From the moment you met me you hurt me, no matter if you meant it or not.”  There’s a resounding boom as he pulls the trigger.

One solid, silent second goes by, and then Steve slumps onto the floor, blood trickling from the hole in his forehead.  He is dead before he hits the ground.

_Two bullets left._

Next is Natasha.  She regards him stiffly.  There is no emotion on her face, only a hard mask to match Tony’s.  “Natashalie,” Tony says, a mad glint in his eyes.  He carefully clicks the next bullet in.  “Never thought you’d die this way, huh?”  Natasha juts her chin up, looking strong even with her ankles and wrists shackled.

“I always knew you weren’t a hero,” she tells him calmly, and the billionaire flinches violently before composing himself again.  He is tense with anger.

“Neither are you.”

Natasha smiles slightly as she nods at him.  “I don’t need to be a hero to be a good person.  I have done all I can to redeem myself.”  _You have too much blood on your hands, Natashalie.  See you in Hell._

The gun jerks back and the lips stop moving.

_One bullet left._

Everyone is dead, except for Tony.  He’s been saving this single special bullet for last.  For a person he hates even more than the rest of the Avengers.  He feels a detached sort of guilt as he sees Bruce’s body lying on the floor.  He had injected the man with a sort of drug to stop the Hulk from emerging before he killed him.  Bruce Banner had always been kind to him, had even seemed to believe in him. Once, Tony had believed in himself too.  That was long ago, when he was still learning to walk and stop seeking his father for attention.  (He hadn’t been able to do the last one for a long time.)

_A bullet for the one he hates most._

Tony smiles, a cold, cold smile, a smile filled with hatred and agony and broken relief.  Then he lifts the gun and shoots himself in the head.

 

  1. The Avengers are watching the news, watching as none other than Tony Stark himself comes up to the podium. The man’s eyes are dull, and his smile plastic and readied for the press. It makes Steve sick to see such a lively person reduced to this.  _It’s all your fault._



Clint rolls his eyes.  “Why are we watching this?  That bastard deserves nothing.”  Somewhere deep inside, Steve knows that Clint is only saying this to protect the crumbled walls around his heart.  The archer had clicked with the engineer pretty quickly after the battle against Loki.  And then there was the Civil War, which just served to further widen the rift already created by Ultron.  Now...Steve, and everyone else, they’re just confused.

Tony’s speaking, his voice a monotone.  His expression is schooled into one of complete boredom, but Steve thinks that he can see grief in the man’s eyes.

And then Bucky tenses.  Bucky has always been able to sense what’s going to happen.

Steve flinches a moment later, and time freezes.

Tony’s hand slips from the podium as his body jerks.  Someone shouts, “He’s going into cardiac arrest!” as people crowd around the collapsed billionaire.  The camera zooms in on Tony’s face, and Steve wants to shout, _You idiot!  Go help!_

Even now, the supersoldier has conflicting thoughts about a man he might have once called a friend.

What happens next chills Steve to the bone.

As Tony’s eyes flutter shut—Clint screaming _“No no no!”_ and everyone else sitting in shocked silence—Steve sees his lips move.  He’s not sure, he might have watched wrong—but no.

No.

_Steve..._

  1. “Do you hear it like I do?” Tony whispers brokenly to the red-haired woman sitting next to him. “Do you hear the voices, telling you what a monster you are?”



“Yes.”  Natasha doesn’t elaborate.

“They keep telling me...they keep telling me...”  Tony’s voice cracks.  “I need to kill myself.”

A moment later, he feels a light arm slink around his shoulders.  The fingers tense momentarily on his arm as he pulls out the gun from his pocket and throws it onto the counter, hands shaking.  “You know what it’s like, to know you shouldn’t be a hero, you shouldn’t be alive, but here you are anyway?  Sometimes I...sometimes I...”

“Yes,” Natasha whispers.  “I do.”  Then she leans her head against Tony’s chest—not a romantic act, but a reassuring one.  “But they’re wrong, Stark.  Tony.  Remember that.  You are one of the best people I have ever met, and you know I wouldn’t tell you that if you weren’t.  _You—_ you are one of the reasons why the world is safe.  _You_ are a hero, no matter what anyone else has or ever will tell you.”

 

**_Vultures circle overhead_ **

**_People love to watch a wreck_ **

**_I hate the whispers and the stares_ **

**_But I lost you, so now who cares_ **

**_-_ **

**_Now I’m standing in a wasteland_ **

**_Of us_ **

**_Desert bones and dried up places_ **

**_We lost_ **

**_Don’t pretend you wanna change_ **

**_When you don’t_ **

**_Oh you know you did me wrong_ **

**_Oh you turn me stone cold_ **

**_Stone cold._ **

**Stone Cold by machineheart**


End file.
